Hi, it's Lee from the japanese water gardens. Coloured carp were first bred over a 1000 years ago in china, but the modern Koi that we know and love today originated in Japan around 200 years ago.
The fish farmers of the Niigata region started to develop coloured Carp from their stock of food fish.
They called them Nishigoi (living jewels)
Although the home of Nishikigoi is Japan, Koi are now bred successfully in many countries throughout the world. Koi from Israel are becoming increasingly popular in the UK market for example.
All Koi belong to the same species but there are many varieties of Koi and they are defined by colour, scalelation and pattern.
In this video I am going to give you a quick introduction to some of the most common varieties of Koi.
The Kohaku is one of the most popular and recognizable varieties of Koi.
It is a white Koi with a red pattern.
A good Kohaku will have a balanced pattern, strong red and the bright unblemished white.
Kohaku can be described by the number or placement of the red markings.
A Tancho Kohaku will have a single red patch for example.
There are many other variations such as doitz kohakus that are scaleless.
And ginrin kohaku that will have shiny reflective scales.
Sanke is another very popular variety.
A Snake is a white Koi with a red and black pattern.
The red markings are referred to as hi and the black are called sumi.
A good Sanke will have a strong hi and dark sumi.
The hi markings on a Sanke are similar to those of a kohaku, normally there will be small patches of sumi.
The pattern should be well balanced on a bright unblemished white base.
Another variety of Koi is the Showa.
The showa is described as a black fish with a white and red pattern.
It is sometimes similar in appearance to the Snake and it can be difficult for non experienced enthusiasts to tell them apart.
However the Showa will normally have more sumi and the sumi wraps around the fish.
Together the varieties of Kohaku, Showa and Snake are referred to as Gosanke varieties.
A single coloured Koi is referred to as an Ogon.
Good skin quality, clarity on the head and good scale reticulation are essential characteristics of a quality example.
There are several varieties of Ogon the most popular are the white ogons called a purachinas or platinum ogons.
And
Yellow Ogons known as Yamabuki Ogons.
When a ogon has dark centres to its scales it becomes known as a Matsuba
Many of you will be familiar with this variety of Koi.
They are called Chagio and they are a variety of Koi that often grows to a large size.
Chagoi are tea coloured or brown in appearance and do not have a pattern but you can get doitz scaleless or ginrin variations.
Chagoi generally possess a calm nature and will often feed from the hand.
This variety of Koi is called a Shiro Utsuri.
It has its sumi similar to the showa. The sumi wraps around the fish and there is usually sumi on the head.
A good example will possess a balanced deep sumi pattern and clean
There are several other types of Utsuri such as this one the Hi Utsuri.
Similar to the Shiro Utsuri is this Koi the Shiro Beko.
A white koi with sumi markings.
The beko has spots of sumi rather than the sumi that wraps around the fish that you would get with a shiro utsuri.
Another good indication of a beko is no sumi on the head.
One of my favorite varieties of Koi is the Kujaku.
It is a metallic Koi with a red pattern and matsuba scales.
Kujaku means peacock fish.
The final 2 varieties that Ii would like to show you today are the Asagi and Shusui.
The Asagi is one of the oldest Koi varieties. It has a blue back and red flanks. The blue scales on the back look like a net.
The head should be light blue or white.
The scaleless variety of the Asagi is called a Shusui.
They will normally have scales only along the dorsal line.
Often over time the blue will unfortunately darken, this makes large quality examples unusual.
There are many more beautiful varieties of Koi for you to enjoy. Everyone has their personal favourites.
Make some suggestions in the comments below.
Thank you for taking the time to watch this video if you like what you subscribe to, thumbs up the video and post some comments. It's bye for now from lee at the japanese water gardens
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